Touches Provoke Reactions: Juliet Charlie Hotel
by A. K. Chiswell
Summary: 3 of 3. Take a close look at the tight knit relationship between Embry and Josh, all new characters, old characters make cameo appearences and see how our soldier really handles Kate's death. Rated M.
1. Where Is My Wife

**Juliet Charlie Hotel**

3rd of the TPR trilogy. Yay, guess what guys? No muse for the 2nd story so hopefully shoving Josh into a story will get rid of the rock slide in my mind.

For some reason all my folder's have gone which includes the latest Take Two chapter that I was really wanting to upload because it was so SO good. Now it's gone. So this chapter is the only thing that I have in my folders right now... SUCK.

You know the disclaimer, I don't have to tell you guys right?

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><p>"Daddy, story" Came the whine and Josh leaned down to pick his son up into his arms and looked down at him, the toast clamped between his teeth with butter dribbling down his chin. Kate was giggling at him from the kitchen and he knew it, he could hear her. Josh silently turned and set his son at the table, watching him walk around the desk and put the toast down on the ceramic plate and looked to his son,<p>

"Darling I have work to go to, Ill read you a story when I come home, okay?" He said as he looked at him. Embry made a whining noise but when Josh put him on the floor the young child and silently tottered out of the room with little chubby arms flailing to go after his mother. Josh sighed deeply and turned his head when Kate gently took hold of his jaw and wiped away the butter before it could drip down onto the collar of his uniform,

"As messy as Embry" She said softly and Josh's lips curled into a very light smile.

"But unlike Embry, I tidy my messes-" a pause as from the living room there was an almighty crash and a happy squeal. Kate sighed and Josh chuckled deeply and kissed his beloved gently on the lips before he grabbed his bag, grabbed the toast and ran out the door instantly. It was raining.

"Awww, shit."

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><p>"Why so glum plum?" Grinned the soldier as he sat opposite the table, Josh raised his head from the paper and watched him darkly before he straightened.<p>

"Can you not see why?" Josh grunted irritably. The soldier merely grinned at him lop sidedly.

"No kipper, I can't see why. You're usually this wet in general." Josh nearly punched him for that one.

"What do you have for me, Kodiax."

Kodiax had gone through training with him, he'd been at the couples wedding and he was god father to Embry. Every day they always went back home for lunch and Kate didn't complain at any point. Kodiax was a blond haired man with short hair as regimented with an always pressed uniform, still lived with his mother on base and his father lived in a bottle off base. It kept them safe. To solidify his quirkiness, Kodiax was scottish and his first name was Michael.

"I got nothin' my good buddy. Simply a drink with a fellow comrade, what else?" Grinned the brute. Josh merely watched him, picked up the phone when it went off and listened to it. They were supposed to be up the range within an hour and it was just a reminder that they were needed up there.

"C'mon, the quicker we get up the range the quicker we can go get food."

Kodiax pulled a face,

"Up the range, in the rain." That was when he laughed. Josh gave him a look,

"Rather the poet today aren't we?" He mused.

The last time anyone saw them before all hell broke loose was walking down the concrete pavement in a concrete jungle the two shoulder to shoulder both in mind and in body, soaked through from the rain and talking amongst themselves.

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><p>"Juice, juice, juice, juice" Bobbed the boy, running around the living room. Kate glanced over the steaming tea and watched the four year old bop up and down with his hands on her crossed knees.<p>

"You want juice?" Kate asked. She got the dumb question award of the day. Embry cast her a glance, then started jumping up and down again saying "juicejuicejuice" repeatedly. Kate brushed back her hair, tied it up with a black band and put the cup down on the table as she got up and walked into the kitchen with Embry running along behind her and climbing onto the unit while she was there and Kate helped him open up the cupboard and take down a drink, handing it to her before she picked him up off the unit and put him down, picking up the necked bottle of plastic and made him the drink.

When she gave it to him, she saw the small boy go scampering back through to the living room and carry on watching Peppa Pig. Kate walked back through towards the living room, picking up the phone off the cradle in the hall and placed the receiver to her ear and listened with a soft

"Hello?"

What she heard, made her fall into an icy silence, listened, waited before she nodded in complete shock and burst,

"Yes, of course, ill be down in about twenty minutes." and put the phone down with a quiet whine.

"Embry?" When he ran into the hall she said, "Embry darling go get dressed, I need to go and see someone" Embry latched onto her trousers,

"Can I come?" He grinned gappily. Kate smiled down at him, a warm, sunny smile as she leaned down and kissed the top of his head.

"No sweetie, you're going to go and stay with Amanda and her little boy, you know Nick yes? You play with him." Embry grinned, ran upstairs to go and get dressed and when he came back down he'd successfully gotten dressed apart from his socks and his belt which of course his mother helped him with. When he was ready, Embry pulled open the door and danced down the pathway towards the road but stopped at the front of the garden to squat down and stare at a caterpillar that was squirming its way across the front path.

When Kate came down the front path, her heels clicking lightly on the floor Embry stood up and took hold of her hand, walked down the path toward where a petite brunette stood on the pathway with her hand above her eyes with a soft smile when she saw the two coming. Embry bounded up the path beside her, and Amanda looked towards Kate quietly.

"What's happened?"

"I don't know, apparently Josh had some sort of accident down at the range. I'm just going to find Kodiax and find out what's going on." She murmured softly, "Are you sure you can take Embry?" She said as she watched her friend and Amanda nodded softly,

"Of course, of course. Call me if you hear anything, alright?" She said gently, putting her hand on the woman's forearm and Kate gave her the gentlest smile she could before turning and bounding down the road with a quick stride and then out of view whilst Amanda moved back inside to see to the two boys.

Not even half an hour later two rain soaked men let themselves in the already unlocked back door, spilling into the kitchen with laughter before the shorter of the two straightened up and looked around, there was no noise from the living room at all.

"Kate?" He asked, wandering through while Kodiax went to rummaging around in the cupboard as he usually did.

"Hey, Kody?"

"What?" Kodiax asked through a mouth full of salted crisps.

"Go down the block and see if Mandy's got Embry? Or at least seen Kate. It's getting dark and there's a storm coming."

Josh wasn't perfect, he thrived on confrontation and perhaps he got slightly too possessive over his wife than he should be. Well, yes, he was very possessive over his wife. Josh had been warned once or twice for warnings and threats to people when concerning his red headed long-legged lover. Kodiax smiled and then loped out of the back door before he hopped the fence and went trundling over back gardens and when he came across the right door he slid in the back. The two boys looked at him, and Embry got up and bounded across.

"Kody!" Kodiax leaned down lightly, scooped him up into a pair of strong arms and put the four year old on his hip.

"Hey sport, where's Mom?" He asked.

"Went out. Wheres Dad?"

Question with a question, this kid was going to be smart.

"Dad's at home, he sent me to come get you." He said as he watched the boy. Amanda was sitting on the couch, observing the soldier quietly before she straightened out and pushed herself to stand.

"Okay, Embry darling go get your coat" She said. The boy bounded out, stretching out and silently vanished.

"What are you playing at? Kate told me Josh had an accident."

Kodiax looked startled,

"Come again? No. He's sitting at the kitchen table at home waiting for Embry and Kate, that's why he sent me over here." He nodded.

Amanda fluffed slightly and watched him but this was Kodiax, everyone knew he was Embry's god father and the man had no reason to hurt him. When Embry came back Kody took his hand and left out the front in the rain, stooping to try and stop the rain from hitting him but never once did they avoid a drop, running ahead into the front door and Josh picked himself upright.

"Daddy!" Came the grin and Josh knelt down enough to wrap his arms around the boy and hug him close.

"Yeah, Daddy. How's my brave little soldier?" He mused as he watched the child. Embry was grinning toothily.

"Good, I'm good. Where's mom?"

Josh paused momentarily, his brows furrowing before he said gently,

"That is a very, very good question."

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><p><strong>W<strong>_here has Kate gone? Who lied about Josh? Where is the Infection and what happens to Kodiax between now and Touches Provoke Reactions?_


	2. Demanding Answers

**Juliet Charlie Hotel**

Don't have to put up a disclaimer, right?

5 pages, that's different to the 3 page chapter I usually put up... Be happy damnit D I joke, enjoy, and review, reviews get love and cookies and plushies.

Anfisa got quite a nasty review, which really pissed me off to be frank because Sanctus works her ass off putting these chapters together and then some asshole thinks it's okay to just completely claim the series. Of course, I know that sometimes the story doesn't make that much sense, and things could go smoother but it's a joint effort, of course at some point the flow isn't going to be as good as a fully written story. If one more comment comes up again about it I am going to go apeshit. Rant over. To all my loyal reviewers and readers, I do beg you go read it. The link to her profile is on mine, and the fic is titled Anfisa. Thanks for your time. :D

One thing I have noticed, is how much Josh smiles, laughs and how much he acts like a normal person when Kate's alive... If those who read this want to see what happens years later, read Anfisa and you'll see a dramatic difference!

Who told Kate to leave, what was happening and who wants Josh all alone? What happened on the night the whole world went to hell?

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><p>Embry continued to run circle's around the table and his father. Josh just sat there with his hands wrapped around a coffee mug silently taking sips from time to time and looked down when Embry started crawling beneath the table with a fire truck making a loud "whoo whoo" noise and Josh silently raised his foot when the truck repeatedly struck his boot. Embry let out a loud giggle, shot past him and crawled into the hallway.<p>

"He doesn't get his happiness from me." Josh stated quietly to himself as he checked his phone for the third time within the past five minutes, his brows furrowing. Kodiax had left several hours previously in promise of finding Kate but so far he'd not found anything about where she had gone. Embry's "whoo whoo" noises continued into the living room where he seemed to abandon the truck and crawled onto the couch, peering out of the front window with his little hands grasping the back of the couch.

"Juice, juice, juice!" He bounced after a moment, hopping off the couch and running into the kitchen and repeatedly banged his hand against Josh's side until he looked at his son and raised a brow.

"You want juice?" Well done Josh you just won the stupid award. That was what Embry's expression told him and the soldier grinned, scooping the four year old up into his arms and put him down on a counter as he went into the fridge and put the carton on the side, taking hold of a plastic cup. "You gunna help me pour?" He asked the four year old. Embry took hold of the plastic, kept the cup firmly on the counter, "That's it, just hold the cup down while I pour." He said, pouring the orange into the cup and chuckled softly when the cup jumped slightly and when he put the juiced up Embry on the floor again, the child quietly wandered out of the room to go and sit in the living room, little legs swinging lightly as he continued to gaze out of the window waiting for his mother to come home.

"Yeah, what?" That was Josh's typical greeting when the phone was ringing, keeping it balanced between his ear and his shoulder as he scrubbed away at the plates and stacked them up on the rack to the left of the sink to dry.

"No one knows where she went, the last time someone saw her was when she went down to the range looking for you." Kodiax announced and Josh could hear him flicking his files through his fingers.

"You best have called me with some good news, Kody otherwise I'm going to kick your ass through the phone." He stated as he rubbed down a plate and piled up the ones that he'd already dried.

"Of course, your best friend wouldn't call for no reason now, would he? Okay. No one's seen her but I have her phone being watched by a friend of mine. If any call is made from that area then we will find - " Josh didn't hear any more because what caught his attention was the fact the front door had just been pushed open. He put the phone down, throwing the towel over his shoulder and walked out into the hallway with widened eyes.

Kate shifted herself, her rain coat soaked through to her skin and red hair limp around his face. Josh sighed deeply, dropping the fringe and bounded down the hallway and swept her into his arms, swinging her round and round before he pulled her tightly into his arms and kissed her temple.

"Where have you been, Kate? Where have you bloody been, I've been trying to call you!" He said, holding her at arms length and stared at her before he pulled her back again and held her tight.

"I heard you had an accident on the range, so when I got up there apparently there had been a mix up and you were perfectly fine but after that you just seemed to vanish so I went to all of your hiding places and you weren't there... Then..." Kate trailed off.

"Then?" Josh prompted patiently, watching her. Kate swallowed softly and stepped back, silently pulling up her sleeve to bare her forearm and for a second Josh didn't notice until he took her by the elbow and pulled her arm until the underneath of her arm by the elbow was showing. Right there was a large almost fatal looking bite mark, a bite mark to the like Josh had never seen before.

"Jesus fuck, Kate, why didn't you call me? Who did this to you?"

She shook her head, silently setting her hands on his chest and cuddled in, hands moving to his upper arms.

"Can I just go to bed, Josh? Can't I just sleep for a while?" She asked and Josh looked down at her, stroking her cheek and kissed her gently before he picked her up and took her upstairs. The bedroom door proved stubborn, but a kick to the top of the handle got it to open and he ushered her through and to the bed. "I'm not a cripple Josh, I can walk." She said as he set her down. Josh watched her, his brows raising before he adjusted himself and pulled out the first aid kit, wandering across and took her arm before he started to wipe it up and make sure it was clean while he bandaged her up.

"I'm just taking care of my wife, Kate. This sort of thing shouldn't happen in society, let alone on a base. You should be safe here." He sighed quietly. Kate smiled at him, the warmth of the gesture was palpable and for a moment the soldier merely allowed himself to bathe in the warmth that it provided with him, silently stroking her cheek. "Get some sleep, my darling. Ill call you down to dinner when it's cooked." He said, standing up and kissed her cheek before he adjusted himself and left Kate to rest herself.

"Where's mommy?" Embry asked, standing at the bottom of the stairs and watched as his father came down, using the towel to rub the blood off his hands.

"She's upstairs sleeping, now my son, why don't we go out and play some football and then make some lovely food for mommy?" He asked. Embry was staring up at him, his face the picture of happiness before he started to giggle and ran out into the back garden through the back doors while snagging up a football as he went and Josh followed after him, bursting into the garden with a grin to kick the football around for a while.

Dinner was surprisingly good, Embry sat down first and Josh gave him his plate. By the way the boy dug in and didn't stop, Josh could suspect that he liked it and in the end the soldier left his son in there and walked upstairs, pulling off his shirt as he went and when he walked into the bedroom he tossed it into the washing basket.

"Kate? Katie, baby?" he asked as he crossed the room, leaning down beside the bed. Her face was buried in the pillow but after a second she moved and raised her head. Josh's brows furrowed tenderly as his thumb smoothed over an eyebrow. "Are you feeling okay? Kate, you're pale, you're really pale." Her response was to lightly take hold of his hands and kissed gently at his knuckle and buried her face in his palm. It was strange really, the size of them. She was small in comparison to her big husband and thus his hand was rather large in comparison to her head.

"I don't feel so well, Josh." She said quietly as she gazed at him, her eyes droopy and half closed. Josh silently set the back of his fingers against her cheek,

"That's it, Kate, I'm going to take you to hospital, all right?"

"No"

"Don't be silly, you're feverish, you've got a strange bite on your arm."

"No, Josh!" But he wouldn't hear of it. He silently scooped her up, blanket and all and took her downstairs despite how much she begged him not to take her anywhere, hitting the bottom of the stairs and walking straight opposite into the living room and lay her down on the couch, kissing the top of her head.

"God you're stubborn." He said softly. Embry came walking in quietly, crawling up onto the couch and wrapped his arms around her neck while Josh walked out into the kitchen to grab his jacket and the phone.

"Mommy?"

"Hey, sweetie. Have you been good?" Kate said gently, the fever making her oh so slightly delusional but she knew her son was there. Embry's little face turned into a scowl when his hands set against her cheeks,

"You're too hot" He said as he watched her. Of course when Kate started to softly convulse the four year old jumped down and raced out of the room with a soft cry which then caught his fathers attention. Josh was standing in the kitchen when he ran in, tucking the issued firearm under his belt and knelt down to pick up his son.

"What is it? What is it, Embry?" He asked. Of course when Embry told him he put the four year old in a chair and instantly went back into his wife.

An hour or so later, Kate had fallen into a deep restful state again and had stopped convulsing. Josh hadn't had chance to take her to hospital yet, he was sitting at the table again chewing at his lip, waiting for the doctor to call him back and was watching his phone with a longing stare. Embry was wringing his hands and was staring down at the table.

"Dad?" He said after a moment,

"Yes, son?"

"Juice..." He said after a moment of bleak silence. Josh started to chuckle then, he started to chuckle, and then he laughed and dropped his head on the table. Embry stared at him, pushing himself slightly more upright.

"Juice... Right... Juice." Josh said after he stopped laughing, standing up and walked towards the fridge, grabbing the carton again and the old cup, swilling it out and put it back on the unit.

Josh heard her and so did Embry. He stopped pouring the juice and silently turned around, still holding it and looked at the slightly slumped figure in the doorway. Her hair hid her face, a bright, flame red but Josh could see the white skin so sickly coloured and her eyes just looked blank, very blank.

"Kate?" Josh stated slowly as he stepped across the room and put the juice down on the table. Something about this felt wrong, felt very wrong and every hair on the back of Josh's neck was up in the air over it but he didn't know what "it" was. When she didn't comment or even blink he twitched softly and watched her, moving across the room and held out his hand to set it against her cheek and her response was rather... shocking. She lunged at him.

She _lunged_ at him.

Kate slammed into his chest and knocked him backwards onto the floor, nails gouging into the skin of Josh's upper arms as she tried to throw herself upright and get her teeth into his neck. The whole thing had taken less than a second which may be too quick for some people, but Josh had been trained for his. His first reaction was to press his feet into her stomach and throw her off of him. It worked, and Kate was sent sprawled against a table leg.

"Kate, Katie stop! You're just ill, baby you're just ill. I can help you, let me help you!" Josh begged, picking himself upright and stared at her. Kate was yowling angrily at him, shoving herself upright enough to knock over the table. It fell onto one side with a loud clash and Embry was tipped backwards off his chair with a wail. The four year old wasn't used to this.

The wail made her stop though, turning from her challenge at Josh and suddenly leaped across the table at Embry. The child let out a wail, scrabbling backwards between the wall and the cupboards away from the grip of his mother. Embry wasn't used to this, Kate had never acted so violently towards him, or towards Josh at all and now she was it was just not what they had anticipated.

Instinct, instinct was what he ran on now. Kate was the love of his life, he loved her but she was threatening his son and that was never okay. People thought mothers got protective? Father's were just as capable. He picked himself upright from where he was, reaching out and grabbed hold of her by the shirt and wrenched her backwards until she fell into him and wound his arms around her despite the amount that she clawed at his arms, shredding into the skin and drew as much blood as possible. It wasn't fair, it just wasn't fair.

"Kate, Katherine, stop!" But it was no use, she had no control left and she was trying to kill Josh and Embry with little care as to how much they suffered.

Josh knew he could not keep his grip on her for as long as he'd hoped, she struggled too violently, she threw herself about and to make matters worse she was shredding into his arms deep enough to be shredding the muscle. One arm moved from across his chest, silently coming up to rest underneath her chin, over her throat and kept her head firmly in place and let her chest go enough to grab the standard issue in his belt. He didn't want to do this, but he saw no other choice. If he let her go, she would continue to attack them until one or both of them was dead.

"I'm sorry, Kate. I'm so sorry."

He felt her stop struggling when the gun went off, shredding through soft tissues and bone and sent grey matter spattering across his shoulder and the side of his shirt. Josh dropped the gun, arms loosening before he simply lay there on the floor in complete and total shock, dumb struck and when the shock gave away to sheer sorrow Josh covered his face with his hands and let out a soul less wail, dragging the body up into his arms and just held her there.

"Josh? Josh!" Kodiax didn't even bother looking for his friend, he instantly ran into the kitchen when he heard the sobs, looking between the scenes and shook his head slowly. "_Shit!_" He barked before quietly picking Kate's body up, putting it down and then knelt aside Josh and back handed the soldier abruptly. Josh stopped sobbing and stared at him with glazed eyes, "Get up, Josh. C'mon, you gotta get up buddy, you still got a kid." Kodiax stated.

Josh stared at him for a few seconds, pushing himself upright and scrabbled to get a grip on the tipped over table, stood up in a daze and stared in the corner. Embry stared back at him, tear stained before he got up and ran across the room past the body of his mother and grasped hold of Josh's trousers, the camouflage.

"My wife." Josh whimpered softly.

"Your wife was not your wife when she attacked you. Go pack bags, take those guns I know you've hidden in the attic. We have to leave within the hour, go, go." Kodiax stated, taking control of the situation and kicked the soldier upstairs. Josh could be heard crashing around upstairs and Embry was left to cling hold of the trouser legs and Kodiax took him into the living room, stopping him from looking at the body of his mother.

"She hurt him, Uncle Kody Why was mommy bad?"

Kodiax reached out and took the child's face in his gloved hands and watched him firmly before he said,

"That was not your mother, Embry. Don't you ever forget that, this was not your mother. Your mom loved you very much, and she still loves you very much. Now" He said when he heard Josh coming back downstairs. "Go and get your coat, we have to leave." Embry nodded quietly, climbing off the couch and walked into the hallway to get his coat and when he saw Josh, the soldier knelt down and hugged him tightly. The four year old could feel it, the moist feeling on his cheeks. His father had been crying.

"We have to go on a trip, I don't know if we'll ever come home again. Do you understand what I'm telling you, son?" He said softly. Embry nodded blankly.

Several minutes later, they were ready to leave and Kodiax ushered them out of the back door, blocking their view of the dead woman and out over the back fence. Josh was gentle with the treating of his son, putting his jacket over the fence and helped Embry climb over it, went after him and Kodiax went last, his combat knife within easy reach. Embry looked at his father, wide eyed,

"Do we have to go?" He asked.

"We have to go, Embry." Josh said quietly, softly ruffling the boys hair and then helped him keep up with the two big soldiers as they took off across the base keeping to back alleys and away from lights, security camera's, over back fences. Embry's hearing wasn't as enhanced as theirs, the two of them could hear wails and screams, the groans of the dying off in the distance.

"What the fuck is this, Kody?"

Kodiax didn't reply for a few seconds, hopping over a fence and taking hold of Embry when Josh helped him over.

"It's some kind of virus, don't ask me any more than that. It's the bites, Josh, it spreads through the bites, and it's airborne too."

"Airborne? Airborne? Kody what the fuck, we could all have been exposed!" Josh growled, silently picking up his son and swung Embry onto his back in order for them to move quicker.

"Some hot shot scientist said perhaps people was immune, y'know? I'm guessing that Kate was giving off that virus and I don't know how long you were clutching onto her, yet you ent infected so perhaps there's some truth there."

Hitting the security fences, Josh swung Embry down and the four year old clutched to his hand while Kodiax cut his way through the fence, pulling and cutting no matter how much it tore into his hands, making the whole big enough for the two men to fit through. Kodiax went first, and Josh coaxed his son through before crawling through himself, dragging himself through before rolling onto his front and getting back upright and just ran, he grabbed his son, his bags, and the soldier just ran. The screams just got louder the firmer away from the base they got, it's lights were going out one by one until it was just too dark to see anything and the two men were tripping up and stumbling. Josh eventually tumbled into the dirt, Embry clinging to his back. Josh stayed there, his face in the leaf clutter and crawled slowly on his front up to a ledge, looking down upon upon the City in front of them and stared in horror as flames licked the sky line, the lights going out street by street, block by block. Kodiax swore quietly. Josh merely stared, the cold was causing the sweat to stick to his face.

"What... Is happening... To us..."


End file.
